Joseph Strama couldn't believe his eyes. His company, Woodland Logcrafters in Medford, Wis., was installing drywall on a stick-built house in 20-degree weather. The source of his surprise? Completely dry windows.

Normally, with so much heat and humidity from the drywall process, the windows would be dripping with condensation or even frost in the cold weather. But the Weather Shield windows he had installed, which feature the manufacturer's Zo-e-shield high-performance glazing with a gas-filled air space and low-conductive spacers, were nearly room temperature. "During the process, [the interior of the] windows was never wet," Strama says. "I was totally amazed."

Chalk up another convert to the newest generation of high-performance window glass. It's been decades since the introduction of insulated glass units and transparent low-emissivity (low-E) coatings, and window and glass manufacturers continue to improve the energy efficiency of their products while lowering the prices.

"Low-E coatings have gone from an upgrade product to where it is almost standard now," says David Koester, brand manager at Weather Shield. "Consumers know they should have low-E glass."

After installing window and door trim, either make flashing using a sheet metal brake or apply flashing pre-bent to the correct trim size. Nail your flashing to the wall, not to the trim, because if you put holes in the flashing, you've defeated its purpose.